


Closeness

by bluemandycat



Category: Archvillain Series - Barry Lyga
Genre: Angst, Kyle is Gay But Doesn't Know He's Gay, M/M, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 10:49:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8202845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemandycat/pseuds/bluemandycat
Summary: Kyle doesn't know why the Mad Mask makes him feel.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi.
> 
> I can post fanfic. Finally.
> 
> Enjoy!

            Erasmus thinks, and tells Kyle over and over again, that it’s a bad idea to get close to the Mad Mask. And yet, that’s what Kyle is, in the most literal sense. Some nights, when the Mad Mask is not pacing around the basement lab, ranting about one thing or the other, he joins Kyle on the spare bed that sits next to the workbench, where Kyle has spread out the Ultitron work.

 

            Now, mind you, the Mad Mask is not one for closeness, in any sense of the word. Kyle doesn’t know anything about him, not where he’s from, or what his name is, or even what his face looks like. By all logic, he should be listening to Erasmus, should clam up about his personal life.

 

            But Erasmus, however intelligent, is just a machine. Which means that he doesn’t— _can’t_ —understand how the Mad Mask makes him feel. In the basement, when the Mad Mask joins him on the spare bed, Kyle feels _something_ —which is honestly a miracle.

           

            They’re never “cuddly,” or whatever it is normal people do to be intimate. The Mad Mask sits with his back touching Kyle’s, and that’s it. There’s no handholding, or lap-sitting, or even hair stroking. It’s just back-to-back contact. Perfectly ordinary. They are partners, after all; they’re allowed to do this.

 

            Sometimes the Mad Mask talks in a low voice, about beauty or people or how great it’ll be when they rule together. Sometimes Kyle talks about what he’s working on, or Mike, or his pranks. And sometimes nobody talks, and all Kyle can feel is the Mad Mask’s back moving in time with his breaths.

 

            Sure, Erasmus is nice and all, but he’s programmed to be like Kyle, and it can get tiring after a while. And Mairi is becoming more and more distant, and Kyle knows that once he’s done with Ultitron he can reconnect with her, but until then he can’t be close. And Mike isn’t even in the picture. So that leaves these little moments of physical intimacy, and it’s kind of killing him.

 

            The Mad Mask isn’t a real person. He couldn’t introduce the Mad Mask to his parents, to Mairi, even to Mike to rub it in his face. It just isn’t feasible, not with the Mad Mask’s personality.

 

            Just because the Mad Mask makes Kyle feel something other than annoyance or boredom doesn’t make him a good partner, or even a good person. Erasmus is probably right—he shouldn’t let the Mad Mask get too close.

 

            Kyle’s never been any good at listening to Erasmus.

**Author's Note:**

> Love to hear opinions on this!


End file.
